Mabel Kingsley arrives at a western town to clear her missing father of the charge that he stole a shipment of government gold. A frontiersman known as "Shatterhand" agrees to guide her in a search for the gold and for major Kingsley. They are joined by an army lieutenant, an amateur botanist, and an Apache chief named Winnetou. Despite troubles caused by pursuing bandits and by Winnetou's enemy, a Sioux chief, Mabel's party eventually reaches the "Valley of Death" which holds the answers to the mystery of the missing gold.